DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

When Power Ministers of various states gathered in New Delhi last month at the conference of power sector called by Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, it was the issue of capacity addition that came up majorly for discussions. The other issues that were discussed on priority were those relating to unbundling of state electricity boards, Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Viduytikaran Yojana and energy efficiency, among others. If India is grow at a fast pace in the next decade, it cannot lag behind in infrastructure development. Other fast developing countries such as Brazil and China are investing huge money in developing their  infrastructure, particularly the power sector.

India has the fifth largest generation capacity in the world, according to KPMG. The installed capacity is 152 GW as on September 30, 2009, which is about 4 percent of global power generation. However, the average per capita consumption of power is around 700 kWh, which is much less by global standards, especially when compared to the US and China (approx 15,000 kWh and 1,800 kWh respectively).

The government believes that in the 11th Five Year Plan period, around 62,374 MW capacity addition would take place. If it puts its best foot forward, it believes that an additional 12,590 MW is also possible. The government's optimism comes heavily from the performance it hopes from the private sector. Shinde recently talked of the government plan to target 1 lakh MW capacity addition in the 12th Five Year Plan, and the govt hopes that 60% of which would be added by the private sector.

In the last 60 years, it has been 2009-10 that has seen the highest capacity addition of 9,585 MW in a single year. The share of the private sector in total installed capacity has grown from 4% in 1990 to 11% in 2006. 

With so much action ready to unravel in the power sector, it would be a good time for entrepreneurs to look for opportunities in this sector.